Stepdog: A Memoir

New York Times reporter Navarro expected to experience the typical ups and downs of becoming a stepmom when she married fellow journalist Jim Sterngold. What she didn’t expect was how her presence in the family would evoke disdain from Jim’s best buddy, a dog named Eddie. Navarro relates in detail her courtship with Jim and her own feelings of jealousy toward the 40-pound, spotted, butt-wagging beast that Jim describes as “just a junkyard dog,” with “the markings of an Australian cattle dog.” Clearly a one-man dog, Eddie does his best to make Navarro’s budding relationship with Jim unpleasant in his presence via nonstop barking, random peeing, threatening leg-lifting, and an aura of general dislike. Despite Eddie’s best efforts, Navarro and Jim marry, and her life as a stepmother to teenagers and dog commences. Readers expecting the typical “I just adore my sweet puppy” story may be disappointed with the way Navarro speaks of Eddie—mainly as a nuisance with which she has to learn to live. However, similar to learning how to stepparent human children, Navarro eventually calls a “truce” with Eddie, as both learn to live with each other in a semi-harmonic, albeit wary, manner. Agent: Philippa Brophy, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Apr.)